•  13 

fj'ls 


SPEECH 


op 


ME.  PATERSON,  OF  NEW  YORK, 


ON  THE 


CIVIL  AND  DIPLOMATIC  APPROPRIATION  BILL 


.< 


REPORTED  BY 


THE  COMMITTEE  OF  WAYS  AND  MEANS 


9 


Delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  June  14,  1844* 


# 


V. 


WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED  BY  JOHN  T.  TOWERS. 

1844. 


SPEECH 


OF 

ME.  PATERSON,  OF  NEW  .YORK, 

ON  THE 

CIVIL  AND  DIPLOMATIC  APPROPRIATION  BILL, 

IN 

Reply  to  the  Southern  doctrine  of  the  unconstitutionality  of  a  Protective  Tariff ; 
and  to  Mr.  Johnson ,  of  Tennessee ,  and  others ,  that  Revenue  ought  not  to  he 
raised  by  a  Tariff  discriminating  for  Protection,  and  that  a  Manufacturing 
Population  would  endanger  our  free  institutions. 


Delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives  U.  S.,  June  14,  1844. 


Mr.  Patterson  rose  and  said,  that  it  was  known  to  the  House  that  he  had 
tried  several  times  to  obtain  the  floor  when  this  bill  was  before  under  considera¬ 
tion,  as  well  as  when  the  Tariff  bill  was  being  debated.  But  as  he  did  not  pos¬ 
sess  the  ability  to  jump  the  Mississippi,  of  which  he  had  often  heard,  but  never 
before  appreciated  the  advantage  of  being  able  to  stride  the  mountain,  speaking 
with  a  trumpet’s  tongue,  in  order  to  obtain  the  eye  and  ear  of  the  Speaker,  in 
this  great  national  arena — which,  with  the  fact  that  he  had  not  detained  the 
House  but  a  few  moments  at  any  one  time  during  the  session — was  the  only 
apology  he  should  offer  for  obtruding  himself  upon  its  notice  at  this  late  hour  of 
the  night  and  of  the  session:  and  knowing  the  great  anxiety  of  the  Committee 
to  get  on  with  the  business  of  the  House,  he  would  endeavor  not  to  weary  their 
patience. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  am  in  favor  of  the  Senate’s  amendment  to  the  bill  now  under 
consideration,  and  all  other  necessary  appropriations  for  an  economical  ad¬ 
ministration  of  the  Government,  but  upon  very  different  grounds  from  those 
assumed  by  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Tennessee,  (Mr.  Johnson,)  who  op¬ 
poses  all  appropriations  in  consequence  of  the  revenue  being  raised  through  the 
medium  of  a  Tariff  discriminating  for  protection,  which  he  regards  as  unconstitu¬ 
tional  and  inequitable  in  its  operations  upon  different  portions  of  the  Union,  en¬ 
tering  upon  the  same  ground  that  has  been  so  long  occupied  by  South  Carolina. 
Waiving  for  the  present  the  inequability  of  a  Tariff  for  protection,  I  will  go  so 
far  as  to  say,  that,  rather  than  expose  the  laboring  classes  of  this  country  to  foreign 
competition,  1  would  protect  the  industry  of  the  country  if  Government  could 
make  no  other  use  of  the  revenue  arising  from  such  protection  than  to  throw  it 
into  the  sea.  And  here  I  shall  leave  for  the  present  this  branch  of  the  subject, 
with  the  view  of  examining  the  inconsistency  of  some  of  the  arguments  put  forth 
by  the  South,  more  particularly  by  the  Representatives  of  South  Carolina,  against 
the  constitutionality  of  any  Tariff  discriminating  for  protection,  accompanied,  as 
these  arguments  always  are, .with  denunciations  which  portend  a  dissolution  of 
the  Union.  And  in  doing  this,  without  attempting  anything  like  a  constitutional 
argument,  I  shall  give  only  a  simple  history  of  the  origin  of  the  protective  policy. 

,  ,  • 


4 

It  is  claimed  that  our  fathers  were  contending  in  the  Revolution  against  an 
oppressive  system  of  taxation  ;  and  this  is  used  as  an  argument  against  the  proba¬ 
bility  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  intending  to  grant  to  the  General  Govern¬ 
ment  the  right  to  tax  the  people,  when  the  circumstances  out  of  which  the  Re¬ 
volution  grew  shows  the  reverse,  and  that  they  did  intend  to  place  in  the  hands 
of  the  General  Government  all  the  power  necessary  to  enable  it  to  protect  the 
industry  of  the  country  against  foreign  competition  and  foreign  oppression.  As 
oarly  as  1695,  manufacturing  had  made  some  advance  in  New  England,  at 
which  time  it  was  encouraged  by  the  Colonial  Government,  particularly  of  Mas-* 
sarhusetts.  [t  soon,  however,  aroused  the  jealousy  of  the  mother  country,  whose 
riding  politicians  regarded  the  New  England  Colonies  as  the  most  prejudicial  of 
ah  her  possessions,  from  the  ingenuity,  intelligence,  and  enterprise  of  the  people 
leading  them  to  rise  above  t he  dependent  and  humble  condition  of  mere  colonists, 
to  which  position  Great  Britain  intended  to  confine  them.  Many  and  fruitless 
were  the  attempts  of  the  mother  country  to  keep  down  enterprise  in  every  other 
branch  of  industry  than  that  of  agriculture.  The  Board  of  Trade  and  Planta¬ 
tions  made  a  report  in  compliance  with  instructions  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
as  early  as  the  year  173.1,  after  the  Executive  authority  of  Great  Britain  had  fail¬ 
ed  to  suppress  the  manufacturing  enterprise  of  the  country,  the  result  of  which 
was,  that,  among  other  branches  of  industry,  it  was  found  hats  were  manufactur¬ 
ed  and  exported  to  a  considerable  extent,  “which  alarming  discovery  resulted  in 
the  passage  of  an  act  of  Parliament  forbidding  their  exportation  from  the  Colo¬ 
nies,  and  from  being  transported  from  one  Colony  to  another.”  Nor  did  the 
matter  end  here.  In  1750,  a  law  was  passed  by  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain, 
“which  was  a  disgrace  to  a  civilized  nation.”  It  prohibited  “  the  erection  or 
continuance  of  any  mill  or  engine  for  slitting  or  rolling  iron,  or  any  plating 
forge  to  work  with  a  tilt  hammer,  or  any  furnace  for  making  steel,  in  the  Colo¬ 
nies,  under  a  penalty  of  two  hundred  pounds.”  “  Every  such  establishment  was 
declared  a  nuisance ,  which  the  Governors  of  the  Colonies  were  required  to  abate 
under  a  penally  of  £500.”  Mr.  Huskisson  stated,  during  the  latter  portion  of 
his  life,  “  that  the  real  causes  of  the  Revolution  are  to  be  found,  not  in  the  irri¬ 
tating  measures  ihat  followed  Mr.  Grenville’s  plan  of  taxation,  but  in  the  long- 
cherished  discontents  of  the  Colonies  at  this  system  of  legislative  oppression.” 

Among  the  first  movements  of  the  Colonists  was  one  of  partial  resistance,  in¬ 
tended  as  a  protection  to  the  industry  of  the  country.  The  non-importation 
act  was  passed  by  the  first  Congress  that  met  at  Philadelphia  in  1774,  and  was 
signed  by  every  member  of  that  body.  In  the  7th  article  of  that  act,  it.  is  provi¬ 
ded  that  “  we  will  use  our  utmost  endeavors  to  improve  the  breed  of  sheep,  and 
increase  their  numbers  to  (he  greatest  extent;  in  the  8th,  we  will,  in  our  several 
stations,  encourage  frugality,  economy,  and  industry,  and  promote  agriculture, 
the  arts,  and  the  manufactures  of  (he  country,  especially  those  of  wool.”  The 
Colonists,  few  in  number,  scattered  over  a  vast  wilderness,  their  localities  widely 
apart,  and  forming  mere  pin  dots  on  the  map  of  the  globe,  in  arraying  them¬ 
selves,  as  it  were,  against  the  world  in  arms,  in  the  adoption  of  measures  like 
this,  present  a  scene  of  moral  grandeur  never  surpassed  ;  for  it  was  evident  to  our 
fathers,  at  that  time,  that,  feeble  as  they  were,  they  must  soon  be  found  in  hos¬ 
tile  array  against  the  most  powerful  national  pon  earth.  It  was  the  only  alter¬ 
native  left  (hem,  for  the  mother  country  seemed  deaf  to  all  their  complaints. 
It  was  then  that 

“  Freedom,  from  her  mountain  height, 

Unfurled  her  standard  to  the  air; 

She  tore  the  azure  robes  of  ni<jht. 

And  placed  the  star  of  glory  there.” 


5 

During  the  Revolution,  commercial  intercourse  was  cut  off  with  Great  Britain, 
giving  fresh  impulse  to  the  manufactories  which  existed  previous  to  its  com¬ 
mencement,  one  of  which,  that  of  nails,  was  one  of  the  first  upon  which  Lord 
Chatham  had  placed  his  memorable  prohibition,  causing  new  establishments 
to  spring  into  existence.  On  the  return  of  peace,  the  great  influx  of  foreign 
goods  proved  disastrous  to  the  mechanical  and  manufacturing  interests  of  the 
country.  It  was  found  impossible  for  the  States,  divided  as  they  were  in  inter¬ 
est,  by  any  uniform  revenue  system,  to  remedy  the  evil.  “  If  one  State,  by  se¬ 
parate  navigation  laws,  attempted  to  secure  the  trade  to  their  own  vessels,  the 
rivalry  and  selfish  policy  of  others  counteracted  their  efforts,  which  resulted  in 
throwing  almost  the  entire  navigation  interest  of  the  country  into  foreign  hands. 
That  interest  had  fallen  so  low  that  it  was  found  impossible,  in  1778,  to  construct 
a  ship  in  Boston  hut  by  subscription,  which  was  induced  by  patriotic  motives. — 
The  shipping  interest,  and  manufactures  in  .general,  petitioned  the  Government 
of  Massachusetts  to  protect  their  industry.”  In  compliance  with  their  prayer,  a 
Tariff  of  duties  was  laid’  In  the  language  of  a  gifted  countryman,  the  state 
of  the  country  rendered  these  laws  of  little  avail.  Binding  in  Boston,  they  were 
of  no  validity  in  Rhode  Island  ;  and  what  was  subject  to  duty  in  New  York 
might  be  imported  free  in  Connecticut  and  New  Jersey.  The  state  of  the  indus¬ 
try  of  the  country  was  depressed  to  a  point  of  distress  unknown  in  the  mid¬ 
night  of  the  Revolution.  The  shipping  was  dwindled  to  nothing — the  manu¬ 
facturing  establishments  were  kept  up  by  bounties,  and  by  patriotic  associations 
and  subscriptions,  and  even  the  common  trades  were  threatened  with  ruin.  It. 
was  plain  that  not  a  hatter,  a  boot  or  shoemaker,  a  saddler,  or  a  brass-founder 
could  carry  on  his  business,  except  in  the  commonest  and  most  ordinary  produc¬ 
tions  of  their  various  trades,  under  the  pressure  of  foreign  competition.  Thus 
was  presented  the  extraordinary  and  calamitous  spectacle  of  a  successful  revolu¬ 
tion  wholly  failing  of  its  ultimate  object.  The  people  of  America  had  gone  to 
wa$,  not  for  names,  but  for  things.  It  was  not  merely  to  change  a  Government 
administered  by  Kings,  Princes,  and  Ministers,  for  a  Government  administered 
by  Presidents,  and  Secretaries,  and  Members  of  Congress.  It  was  to  redress 
their  own  grievances — to  improve  their  own  condition — to  throw  off  the  burden 
which  the  Colonial  system  laid  on  their  industry.  To  attain  these  objects,  they 
endured  incredible  hardships,  and  bore  and  suffered  almost  beyond  the  measure 
of  humanity  ;  and  when  their  independence  was  attained,  they  found  it  was  a 
piece  of  parchment.  The  arm  which  had  struck  for  it  in  the  field,  was  palsied 
in  the  workshops — the  industry  which  had  been  burdened  in  the  Colonies,  was 
crushed  in  the  free  States — and  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  the  mechanics 
and  manufacturers  of  the  country  found  themselves,  in  the  bitterness  of  their 
hearts,  independent — and  ruined.  They  looked  around  them  in  despair — they 
cast  about  for  means  of  relief,  and  found  noije,  but  the  plan  of  voluntary  as¬ 
sociations  throughout  the  continent,  and  an  appeal  to  the  patriotism  of  their  fel¬ 
low-citizens.  Associations  were  formed  in  1777  and  1778,  and  circular  letters 
were  addressed  to  their  brethren  throughout  the  Union.  Combinations  of  the 
kind,  unsupported  by  general  laws  must  have  proved  ineffectual,  but  before  this 
was  discovered  the  day-star  of  the  Constitution  arose,  and  of  all  the  classes  of  the 
people  of  America  to  whose  hearts  it  came  as  the  harbinger  of  blessings  long 
hoped  for  and  long  despaired  of,  most  unquestionably  the  tradesmen,  mechanics, 
and  manufacturers  hailed  it  with  the  warmest  welcome.  It  had,  in  fact,  grown 
out  of  the  all-pervading  inefficiency  and  wretchedness  of  the  revenue  system, 
which  had  been  felt  in  ruin  by  them  more  than  by  any  other  class.  The  feel¬ 
ings  with  which  its  adoplion  was  regarded  by  the  traders  and  manufacturers  of 
the  country  is  manifested  in  the  congratulatory  letters  passing  from  one  associa¬ 
tion  to  another,  followed  up  by  petitions  to  Congress,  praying  for  protection.”— - 


6 

This  shows  in  what  light  they  regarded  it,  and  furnishes  an  instructive  lesson; 
but  as  my  remarks  would  be  extended  to  an  unreasonable  length,  I  must  omit 
them  in  detail. 

Such  were  the  feelings  and  hopes  with  which  the  laboring  classes  of  the 
country,  particularly  the  manufacturers  and  mechanics,  looked  forward  to  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution.  In  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  it  is  admitted  that 
the  question  of  adoption  was  decided  under  the  influence  of  the  tradesmen 
and  manufacturers,  already  mentioned.  It  was  declared  in  debate,  in  the  con¬ 
vention  of  the  Slate  of  Massachusetts,  that  the  encouragement  of  manufactu¬ 
rers  was  declared  to  be  the  early  and  avowed  object  of  the  Constitution.  As 
it  was  successively  adopted  in  each  State,  triumphal  processions  of  the  trades¬ 
men,  mechanics,  and  manufacturers,  with  their  banners  and  mottoes  expressive 
of  their  reliance  upon  the  new  constitution  for  protection,  evinced  in  the  most 
imposing  form,  in  the  presence  of  uncounted  multitudes,  the  principles,  the  ex¬ 
pectations,  and  the  hopes  of  the  industrial  classes  of  the  country.  “  Processions 
of  the  kind  were  organized  in  Portsmouth,  in  Boston,- in  New  York,  in  Phila¬ 
delphia,  in  Baltimore,  and  in  Charleston,  and  the  sentiment  which  animated 
and  inspired  them  all  was  the  same  as  that  expressed  in  the  motto  inscribed 
upon  the  banner  of  the  manufacturers  of  Philadelphia  :  ‘May  the  Union  Gov¬ 
ernment  protect  the  manufacturers  of  America.’” 

Such  was  the  avowed  sentiments  of  the  mechanics  and  manufacturers  of  the 
country,  and  such  their  influence  over  public  sentiment,  that  it  is  evident,  from 
the  vote  upon  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  in  several  of  the  States,  that  it 
would  not  have  been  adopted  if  it  had  not  been  generally  understood  that  it 
imparted  to  the  General  Government  all  the  power  necessary  to  protect  the 
industry  of  the  country.*  , 

Mr.  Madison  brought  forward  the  revenue  system  early  in  the  session  of  the 
first  Congress,  which  convened  under  the  Constitution  in  1789  ;  and  while  this 
measure  was  being  discussed,  numerous  memorials  were  presented  from  differ¬ 
ent  sections  of  the  Union,  praying  Congress  to  adopt  suitable  measures  to  pro¬ 
tect  the  industry  of  the  country  from  foreign  competition.  The  first  one  pre¬ 
sented  came  from  the  tradesmen,  manufacturers,  and  others,  of  the  town  of  Bal¬ 
timore,  in  the  State  of  Maryland,  “  praying  an  imposition  of  such  duties  on  all 
foreign  articles  which  can  be  made  in  America  as  will  give  a  just  and  decided 
preference  to  the  labor  of  the  petitioners,  and  that  there  may  be  granted  to 
them,  in  common  with  the  other  manufacturers  and  mechanics  of  the  United 
States,  such  relief  as  to  the  wisdom  of  Congress  may  think  proper.”  And  where 
do  you  think  the  next  petition  came  from?  From  Boston?  No.  From 
New  York?  No.  From  Philadelphia?  No,  sir  ;  but  from  the  shipwrights  of 
Charleston,  South  Carolina-. 

[Here  Mr.  Simpson,  of  South  Carolina,  rose  and  called  Mr.  Patterson  to 
order  for  irrelevancy.  ♦ 

The  Speaker  decided  that  he  was  in  order;  and  he  proceeded,  amidst  cries 
of  u  Go  on  !”  “  You  are  in  order  !”J 

u  Stating  the  distress  they  were  in  from  the  decline  of  that  branch  of  their 
business,  and  the  present  situation  of  the  trade  of  the  United  States,  and  praying 
that  the  wisdom  and  policy  of  the  National  Legislature  may  be  directed  to  such 
measures,  in  the  general  regulation  of  trade  and  the  establishment  of  a  proper 
navigation  act,  as  will  relieve  the  particular  distress  of  the  petitioners,  in  com¬ 
mon  with  their  fellow  shipwrights  throughout  the  Union.” 

*  The  Constitution  was  ratified  by  Pennsylvania,  on  the  13th  of  December,  1787,  by 
vote  of  46  to  23  ;  by  Massachusetts,  on  the  6th  of  February,  1778,  by  a  vote  of  187  to 
168;  by  New  Hampshire,  21st  June,  1788,  by  a  vote  of  57  to  46;  by  New  York,  26th 
July,  1788,  by  a  vote  of  34  to  25. 


7 

[Here  Mr.  Simpson  rose  again  to  a  point  of  order.  His  point  was  “  Irrele¬ 
vancy.  ” 

The  Speaker  decided  that  he  was  in  order.] 

I  conceive  I  am  in  order,  Mr.  Speaker.  I  am  discussing  the  Tariff  policy  a& 
a  source  of  revenue,  and  intend  nothing  uncourteous  to  South  Carolina.  New 
York  and  other  cities  followed,  praying  Congress  for  similar  relief.  Mr.  Madi¬ 
son  said  in  the  debate  upon  the  act  introduced  by  himself,  that  “the  Slates  that 
are  the  most  advanced  in  population  and  ripe  for  manufactures  ought  to  have  their 
particular  interests  attended  to  in  some  degree.  While  the  States  retained  the 
power  of  making  regulations  of  trade,  they  had  the  power  to  protect  and  cherish 
such  institutions.  By  adopting  the  present  Constitution,  they  have  thrown  the 
exercise  of  this  power  into  other  hands.  They  must  have  done  this,  with  the 
expectation  that  those  interests  would  not  be  neglected  here.” 

u  Duties  laid  on  imported  articles  may  have  an  effect  which  comes  within  the 
idea  of  national  piudence.  It  may  happen  that  materials  for  manufacture  may 
grow  up  without  any  encouragement  for  this  purpose.  It  has  been  the  case  in 
some  of  the  States;  but.  in  others  regulations  have  been  provided,  and  have  suc¬ 
ceeded  in  producing  some  establishments,  which  ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  per¬ 
ish  from  the  alteration  which  has  taken  place;  it  would  be  cruel  to  neglect  them 
•and  turn. their  industry  into  other  channels,  for  it  is  not  possible  for  the  hand 
of  man  to  shift  from  one  employment  to  another  without  being  injured  by  the 
change.  There  may  be  some  manufactures,  which,  being  over-forward,  can  ad¬ 
vance  towards  perfection  without  any  adventitious  aid;  while  others,  for  the 
want  of  the  fostering  hand  of  Government,  will  be  unable  to  go  on  at  all.  Le¬ 
gislative  attention  will,  therefore,  be  necessary  to  collect  the  proper  objects  for 
this  purpose.” 

[Here  Mr.  Cullom,  of  Tennessee,  called  Mr.  P.  to  order.  His  point  of  order 
was  the  same  as  that  of  Mr.  Simpson. 

In  the  midst  of  cries  of  “  Go  on !”  “  You  are  in  order !”  the  Chair  decided 
•that  he  was  in  order.] 

I  conceive,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  the  Tariff  as  a  source  of  revenue  is  directly 
connected  with  appropriations  for  the  Belgium  mission  as  well  as  all  others;  but, 
as  I  am  unwilling  to  intiude  upon  the  coutesy  of  the  House,  I  will  pass  over 
much  of  what  I  intended  to  occupy  its  time  with.  [“  Print  them,”  was  the  cry, 
u  if  you  do  not  give  us  the  whole  of  it.”] 

This  is  the  argument  of  the  Father  of  the  Constitution.  Will  any  one  pre¬ 
tend,  after  reading  it,  that  Mr.  Madison  did  not  believe  that  the  General  Govern¬ 
ment  possessed  the  power,  and  was  in  duly  bound  to  protect  the  industry  of  the 
country.  The  preamble  indicates  that  such  is  the  case.  It  is  in  these  words: 
“  For  the  support  of  Government,  and  the  discharge  of  the  debt  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  encouragement  and  protection  of  manufactures.”  If  it  was  un¬ 
derstood  by  any  one  in  any  other  light,  it  is  singular  that  the  ground  was  not 
assumed  during  that  lengthy  debate.  The  benefit  of  the  protecting  principle  was 
by  no  means  confined  to  the  Northern  States,  but  was  extended  to  the  South, 
whose  agricultural  interests  were  among  the  first  to  reap  the  benefit  of  it.  A 
heavy  duty  was  laid  on  manufactured  tobacco,  which  was  the  only  form  the  im¬ 
ported  article  could  in  competition  with  the  production  of  the  South.  Roger 
Sherman  supported  it  upon  the  ground  that  the  importation  of  the  article  ought 
to  be  prohibited.  A  duty  was  also  laid  upon  indigo;  both  of  which  was  a  tax 
upon  the  labor  of  the  North  for  the  benefit  of  the  Southern  planter.  A  high 
duty  was  also  levied  on  hemp,  in  favor  of  which  Southern  members  allege  “  that 
the  lands  were  adapted  to  the  growth  of  it,  and  that  its  culture  would  be  pur¬ 
sued  with  attention.”  “  But  the  most  prominent  case  of  protection  for  the  benefit 
of  the  South  is,  the  duty  imposed  on  raw  cotton  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  ill- 


8 

during  its  growth”  At  that  time  cotton  mills  were  in  operation  in  Massachusetts, 
"Rhode  Island,  and  some  other  places,  and  duties  had  been  levied  by  some  of  the 
Slates  for  the  protection  and  encouragement  of  this  important  branch  of  industry. 
All  the  cotton  consumed  by  them  was  imported,  the  South  having,  up  to  that 
time,  produced  no  more  than  was  wanted  for  domestic  use — none  was  exported. 
Gotlon,  as  an  American  production,  was  not  known  in  any  European  port.  In 
the  bill  of  which  I  have  been  speaking,  introduced  by  Mr.  Madison,  a  duty  of 
three  cents  a  pound  was  imposed  on  cotton,  in  the  Senate,  for  the  purpose  of 
•inducing  its  culture  in  this  country.  A  member  from  South  Carolina,  in  the 
-House  of  Representatives,  advocated  its  adoption  upon  the  ground  that  “  cotton 
was  in  contemplation,  as  an  article  of  produce,  by  the  planters  of  South  Caro¬ 
lina  and  Georgia,  and  that,  if  good  seed  could  be  obtained,  he  hoped  it  might 
succeed.”  It  was  upon  this  ground  the  duty  was  imposed.  On  the  5th  of  De¬ 
cember,  1791,  in  compliance  with  an  order  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
General  Hamilton  made  his  celebrated  report  on  manufactures,  in  which  he  says, 
that  the  present  duty  of  three  cents  per  pound  on  the  foreign  raw  material  was 
^undoubtedly  a  very  serious  impediment  to  the  manufacturers  of  cotton,  and  that  * 
a  repeal  of  it  is  indispensable  for  the  prosperity  of  manufacturers.” 

Such  was  the  influence  of  Southern  Representatives,  (for  South  Carolina  has 
^always  been  ably  represented  here,)  that  the  duty  was  not  repealed,  noth  with¬ 
standing  Mr.  Hamilton  exerted  himself  in  its  behalf.  When  this  branch  of  manu¬ 
factures  was  in  its  infancy  in  the  northern  and  middle  States,  it  was  compelled 
to  struggle  against  foreign  competition,  paying  this  duty  for  the  benefit  of 
^Southern  planters,  in  order  that  they  might  explore  the  tropics  from  the  Gulf 
©f  Mexico  through  the  wide  circle  of  the  earth,  “  for  a  species  of  cotlon  seed 
that  would  thrive  in  their  climate.”  Every  ounce  of  cotton  consumed  by  the 
'll um blest  cottager  in  the  land,  paid  this  duty  for  years,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Southern  planter.  As  late  as  1796,  the  proprietors  of  a  cotton  mill  on  the 
Hrandywine,  petitioned  Congress  to  repeal  the  duty  on  raw  cotton,  which  was 
rejected  by  the  Committee  of  Commerce  and  Manufacturers,  on  the  ground, 
that  to  repeal  the  duty  on  raw  cotton  imported  would  be  to  depress  the  growth 
©f  cotton  in  our  own  country.”  It  was  then  strictly  a  protective  duly  to  the 
full  extent  of  the  amount  imposed.  Up  to  the  present  hour,  it  protects  the  cot¬ 
ton  planter  against  foreign  competition,  otherwise  he  would  have  to  compete 
fn  our  own  markets  with  foreign  cotton,  as  he  does  in  the  markets  of  Europe,. 
•This  dut3f  has  been  maintained  without  change  since  it  was  first  imposed,  not¬ 
withstanding  the  South  and  the  North  have  recommended  its  repeal  at  different 
times.  Mr.  Forsyth,  of  Georgia,  advocated  its  repeal  in  1816,  at  which  time 
43outh  Carolina,  through  her  Representatives,  was  instrumental  in  fastening  upon; 
Massachusetts  a  protective  tariff,  to  which  she  was  opposed.  South  Carolina, 
it  seems,  at  that  time  understood  the  true  interest  of  Massachusetts  better  than 
^he  did  herself — she  drove  her  into  manufacturing  against  her  will.  Even  as 
late  as  1824  and  1828,  her  Representatives  were  found  voting  for  a  protective 
tariff.  She  comes  then  with  bad  grace  at  this  late  day  to  demand  of  Massachu¬ 
setts  that  she  shall  abandon  the  protective  policy,  however  destructive  it  may 
|>rove  to  her  vast  manufacturing  interest,  upon  the  ground  of  the  exploded  ab¬ 
stractionism,  that  the  Constitution  has  not  granted  to  the  General  Government 
the  power  to  enact  laws  discriminating  for  protection.  More  than  half  a  cen- 
4ury  has  passed  away  since  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  and  in  the  face  of 
numerous  instances  of  South  Carolina’s  sanctioning  the  constitutionality  of  pro¬ 
tection,  her  Representatives  are  found  at  each  returning  session  of  Congress, 
denouncing  its  unconstitutionality.  One  of  her  Representatives,  (the  Hon. 
Mr.  Burt,)  said,  “Did  gentlemen  expect  that  the  people  of  the  Southern 
States  would  submit  to  discrimination  like  that— -he  did  not  mean  to  use  the 


9 

language  of  menace  here — be  did  not  mean  to  say  what  in  his  belief  the  South 
would  do,  because  it  might  not  become  the  propriety  of  debate  in  this  Hall,  but  he 
would  say  the  West  had  already  spoken,  and  the  South  would  not  submit  to 
this  system,  that  they  would  not  submit  to  be  put  in  the  relation  to  the  North 
of  dejected  and  despised  colonies,  and  if  they  would  submit  to  it  theywere 
slaves  and  deserved  their  destiny.”  Another  Representative  of  South  Caro¬ 
lina  is  still  more  denunciatory  of  the  tariff,  and  speaks  in  tones  that  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  if  the  system  of  discrimination  for  protection  was  main¬ 
tained  by  the  North,  that  the  South  would  at  no  distant  day  break  asunder  the 
bonds  of  this  glorious  Union.  While  the  Hon.  gentleman  from  Alabama,  (Mr. 
Belser,)  says  he  is  beginning  to  lose  the  respect  with  which  he  had  been 
taught  to  regard  that  sacred  instrument.  No  true  American  can  look  upon  fore¬ 
bodings  of  this  kind,  without  a  melancholy  heart. 

It  is  to  be  expecied  that  the  ghost  of  the  murdered  Constitution,  which 
like  the  ghost  of  murdered  Banquo,  is  ever  up  and  never  down,  will  be  seen  in 
its  gastly  cerements  flitting  through  our  Representative  Halls,  just  so  long  as 
each  Representative  adopts  the  latitudinous  doctrine  of  construing  the  Consti¬ 
tution  as  he  understands  it,'  unless  parasidal  hands,  armed  with  the  strength  of  a 
Sampson,  shall  hurl  the  pillars  of  the  Constitution  itself  from  their  centre,  tum¬ 
bling  them  promiscuously  to  the  earth,  burying  it  beneath  iis  ruins.  The  sooner 
the  doctrine  of  unconstitutionality  is  abandoned,  the  belter  it  will  be  for  the 
country.  There  is  but  one  opinion  upon  this  subject  in  the  North.  I  have  no 
doubt  i hat  my  political  opponents  in  my  own  district,  as  well  as  throughout  the 
State,  if  they  were  not  to  conceal,  but  express,  their  true  sentiments  on  ihe  sub¬ 
ject,  however  much  we  may  differ  upon  other  matters,  would  take  me  by  the 
hand,  bidding  me  God  speed  in  maintaining  the  rights,  of  the  General  Govern¬ 
ment  to  discriminate  for  protection.  But  I  do  not  stand  up  here,  Mr.  Speaker, 
to  advocate  any  measure  that  is  grossly  unjust  and  inequitable  in  its  bearing 
upon  different  sections  of  the  country,  even  if  coming  within  the  strict  letter  of 
the  Constitution— nor  would  the  people  of  the  Noith  insist  upon  the  continu¬ 
ance  of  any  law  if  they  believed  it  was  in  reality  oppressive  to  a  large  portion 
of  their  countrymen,  as  they  are  ready  at  all  times  to  share  their  portion  of  the 
burdens  of  Government,  and  submit  to  any  laws  hearing  alike  upon  every  portion 
of  the  country.  If  the  protective  policy  is  so  oppressive  to  the  South  and  West, 
it  is  singular  that  the  merchants  whose  operations  are  extended  over  every  sec¬ 
tion  of  the  Union,  and  whose  interests  are  liable  to  he  affected  by  any  thing  that 
depresses  any  poriion  of  the  country,  should  be  so  universally  in  favor  of  it.  I 
have  received  letters  from  a  great  many  eminent  merchants,  urging  the  import¬ 
ance  of  sustaining  our  present  tariff,  contrasting  the  bettered  condition  of  the 
whole  country  under  its  influence,  with  the  bankruptcy  and  ruin  which  pre¬ 
vailed  everywhere  under  the  recent  revenue  tariff.  No  class  of  community  can 
so  well  judge  of  its  effects  as  the  merchants,  they  feel  its  influence  in  the  bet¬ 
tered  condition  of  the  smaller  merchants  scattered  throughout  the  land,  whose 
increased  ability  to  pay  is  a  true  barometer  indicitive  of  the  healthy  condition 
of  the  country.  It  has  been  asked  in  the  other  branch  of  Congress,  what  we 
at  the  North  would  do,  if  the  South,  with  the  superior  advantage  of  cheap  labor,, 
should  become  manufacturers.  Let  them  embark  in  it,  it  is  doubtless  their  true 
interest.  The  North  will  bid  them  God  speed,  and  if  they  drive  us  from  that 
field  of  enterprise,  and  we  cannot  make  a  living  in  cultivating  mother  earth 
among  our  rocks  and  our  mountains,  rather  than  quarrel  with  her  for  maintain¬ 
ing  the  only  truly  independent  principle  for  the  people  of  this  country,  that  of 
the  protection  of  its  industry  against  foreign  competition,  we  will  travel  still 
farther  North,  mount  an  iceberg  and  fish  for  seal.  But  I  must  leave  this  branch 
of  the  subject,  and  proceed  to  discuss  more  practicable  matters. 


10 

According  (o  (he  doctrine  of  the  advocates  of  Free  Trade  and  a  horizontal 

o 

Tariff,  or  a  Tariff  discriminating  for  revenue  only — who  contend  that  the  duty 
imposed  on  any  article  enhances  its  value,  to  the  full  extent  of  the  duty,  to  the 
consumer,  and  that  it  does  not  end  with  the  article  imported  upon  which  duty  is 
collected,  but  it  enhances  the  value  of  every  article  of  the  same  kind  produced  in 
this  country,  to  the  same  extent — no  Tariff  or  system  of  revenue  would  be  equi¬ 
table  and  just,  that  was  not  confined  to  such  articles  as  are  not  produced  in  the 
country,  and  must  necessarily  come  from  abroad;  otherwise,  the  consumer  would 
be  subjected  to  a  two-fold  tax.  Can  it  be  expected  that  doctrines  so  anti-Ameri¬ 
can  will  ever  be  tolerated  in  this  country?  Yet,  if  it  be  true,  that  the  whole 
product  of  the  country  is  enhanced  in  value  to  the*  extent  of  the  duty  collected 
upon  foreign  imports,  and  that  it  is  wrong,  inequitable,  and  unconstitutional,  the 
argument  covers  the  whole  ground,  and  duties  cannot  be  justly  imposed  upon 
any  other  articles  than  those  we  cannot  produce.  The  South,  jealous  as  it  is  of 
any  infringement  of  its  rights,  I  trust,  will  not  attempt  to  force  this  odious  doc¬ 
trine  upon  the  country.  A  , 

There  is  a  wide  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  truth  of  the  argument,  that  arti¬ 
cles  imported,  which  come  in  competition  with  articles  produced  in  this  country, 
are  enhanced  in  value  to  the  full  extent  of  the  duty  levied  upon  them  ;  and, 
while  the  South  will  argue  themselves  into  the  belief  that  such  is  the  case,  by' 
metaphysical  disquisitions,  the  Yankee  wdl  work  out,  by  calculations  predicated 
upon  facts,  quite  a  different  result.  I  had  sought,  from  other  sources,  facts  appli¬ 
cable  to  the  case,  when  the  able  report  of  the  Committee  on  Manufactures  made 
its  appearance,  and  saved  me  the  trouble  of  compiling  much  of  what  I  had  col¬ 
lected.  For  such  facts  as  I  have  availed  myself  of,  I  take  this  opportunity  to  tender 
my  acknowledgments  to  the  able  Chairman  of  that  Committee.  From  that  re¬ 
port  it  appears  that  there  was  a  falling  off  in  the  price  of  sundry  articles  manufac-  * 
tured  in  this  country,  between  August,  1841,  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the  pre¬ 
sent  Tariff,  and  January,  1844,  as  follows  : 


On  27  inch  brown  shirtings 

8 

per  cent. 

On  Swedes  iron 

• 

8 

per  cent. 

30  do.  do.  do. 

3 

do. 

English,  assorted  - 

- 

6 

do. 

37  do.  do.  sheeting 

4 

do. 

*  Pig  copper 

• 

do. 

40  do.  do.  do. 

9 

do. 

‘Anvils 

* 

10 

do. 

36to38  do.  do.  do. 

6 

do. 

English  bars,  refin’d, 

roll’d 

24 

do. 

30  do.  do.  drill 

13 

do. 

American  refined  - 

• 

28 

do.  : 

30  do.  do.  ieans 

32 

do. 

Swedish  hammered 

• 

25 

do. 

Leather  in  Baltimore,  Phil. 

Wrought  nails 

• 

17 

do. 

N.  York,  &  Boston 

20  to  26 

do. 

Cut  nails  - 

• 

19 

do. 

Molasses  - 

- 

2c.  per.  gal. 

Pigs  -  - 

- 

22 

do. 

Hemp,  different  kinds 

11  to  16 

per  cent. 

Braziers’  rods 

• 

33 

do. 

American  cordage  - 

- 

15 

do. 

Scythes  - 

• 

30 

do. 

Pitch 

■  - 

12 

do. 

Shovels  - 

m 

27 

do. 

Rosin 

■  - 

35 

do. 

Tacks 

33  to  41 

do. 

Anchors  - 

- 

18 

do. 

Brads 

46 

do. 

Copper  sheathing- 

- 

10 

do. 

Wire 

17  to  36 

do. 

The  falling  off’ on  glassware,  wood  screws,  and  sundry  other  articles  of  hard¬ 
ware,  is  equally  great,  not  only  at  New  York,  but  in  different  sections  of  the 
Union.  In  1828,  the  duty  on  molasses  was  increased  from  5  to  10  cents  per  gal¬ 
lon,  at  which  time,  under  a  duty  of  5  cents,  it  was  bringing  30  cents  per  gallon: 
from  1829  to  1832,  when  paying  a  duty  of  10  cents  per  gallon,  it  sold  at  from  25 
to  27  cents  per  gallon.  A  great  many  other  articles  might  be  enumerated,  which, 
have  also  declined  in  price  since  1841,  while  the  majority  of  agricultural  produc¬ 
tions  have  advanced  in  price,  as  will  appear  by  the  following  table : 


4K  t: 


11 


Articles  which  have  advanced  in  price. 


On  Pork,  clean 

21 

per  cent 

Pork,  mess 

35 

do. 

Pork,  prime 

65 

do. 

Oats  - 

14 

do. 

W  hite  beans 

35 

do. 

Full  blood  American  wool 

8 

do. 

Half  do.  do.  do. 

16 

do. 

Cotton  - 

25 

do. 

Average  rise,  25  per 

cent. 

Articles  which  have  declined  in  price. 


Mess  country  beef 

-  16 

per  cent* 

Navy  do.  - 

-  10 

do. 

Hams 

-  15 

do. 

Lard 

-  7 

do. 

Flour 

-  10 

do. 

Cora 

-  7 

do. 

Average  fall  9 

7-5  per  cent. 

By  these  tables  it  appears  that  every  article  imported  into  the  country,  paying 
an  increased  duty  under  the  present  Tariff,  have  declined  in  price,  while  agri¬ 
cultural  products  alone  have  increased.  What  stronger  evidence  can  be  required 
to  show  that  the  condition  of  the  country  has  vastly  improved  since  the  Tariff  of 
1842  took  effect  ?  The  balance  of  trade,  which  was  against  us,  draining  the 
country  of  specie,  destroying  confidence,  ruining  the  currency,  blasting  hopes, 
and  bankrupting  estates — like  the  Destroying  Angel,  dealing  death  in  advance, 
and  leaving  desolation  in  the  rear :  now,  that  is  changed  in  our  favor,  by  reason 
of  the  restraining  influence  which  the  Tariff  has  had  upon  imports,  in  substitut¬ 
ing  the  production  of  our  own  industry  in  place  of  the  foreign  article,  bringing 
back  to  the  country  specie  in  a  golden  flood,  and  restoring  the  currency  once 
more  to  a  healthy  condition — much  of  which  is  attributable  to  the  Tariff. 

It  is  denied  that  the  Tariff  has  been  the  cause  of  the  falling  off  in  the  price  of 
manufactured  articles,  and  claimed  that,  the  decline  in  the  price  of  labor, 
improvement  in  machinery,  &c.,  have  reduced  prices.  To  some  extent,  this 
may  be  true;  but  there  has  been  no  such  decline  in  wages,  or  improvement  in 
machinery  abroad,  as  would  warrant  a  reduction  of  prices  to  one-half  the  extent 
the  price  of  manufactured  articles  have  declined.  Competition  has  done  it. — 
Manufacturing  is  beginning  to  obtain  a  firm  footing,  by  reason  of  the  confidence 
which  the  Tariff  has  imparted  to  that  interest,  throwing  around  it  a  healthy  at¬ 
mosphere^  in  which  it  is  becoming  invigorated  and  rising  into  manhood,  by  the 
aid  of  ample  capital  to  enable  those  embarked  in  it  to  perfect  their  establishments 
and  to  protect  themselves  against  the  influence  of  foreign  capital  in  some  measure, 
by  which  they  are  already  enabled  to  compete  in  foreign  markets  successfully 
with  Great  Britain  in  the  production  of  some  of  the  coarser  kinds  of  goods, 
creating  a  healthy  compefion  at  home,  which  will  reduce  the  price  of  most  arti¬ 
cles  to  the  lowest  point  at  which  they  can  be  produced,  the  fruits  of  which  are 
already  manifested  in  the  decline  of  very  many  articles.  Suppose  we  should 
adopt  the  Free  Trade  doctrine — destroy  our  manufactories  and  depend  upon  fo¬ 
reign  countries  for  supplies — how  long  would  it  be  before  Great  Britain,  France, 
and  other  European  countries,  supplying  us,  as  they  would,  with  different  arti¬ 
cles  not  coming  in  competition  with  each  other,  having  the  control  of  the  market., 
before  prices  would  advance  beyond  any  duty  which  would  be  necessary  to  pro¬ 
tect  the  industry  of  the  country  and  maintain  a  wholesome  competition  at  home? 
That  this  would  be  the  result,  no  one  can  doubt:  all  experience  shows  it. — 
Gentlemen  from  the  West  can  appreciate  the  force  of  the  argument.  The  gen¬ 
tleman  from  Indiana,  (Mr.  Wright,)  tells  us  that  his  constituents  pay  double 
the  prime  cost  of  every  article  of  merchandise  they  purchase.  This  may  be  so; 
and  it  is  the  fruit  of  an  entire  absence  of  competition.  A  merchant  sits  down  in 
a  remote  district  of  country,  in  the  supply  of  which  he  has  no  competitor,  and  his 
profits  are  sure  to  be  exhorbitant.  Open  some  new  communication,  by  way  of  a 
canal  or  railroad,  upon  which  a  marketing  town  springs  up  and  competition  is 
introduced,  and  profits  very  soon  fall  from  100  per  cent,  down  to  25  or  20.  The 
effect  is  the  same  with  manufacturing.  If  I  may  be  permitted,  I  will  read  a  let¬ 
ter  from  an  importer  to  the  editor  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  and  published  some 


12 

time  since,  and  also  one  from  an  extensive  importing  firm  in  the  city  of  New 
York  to  me,  which  show  the  workings  of  the  Tariff  in  reducing  prices  : 

“It  is  often  asserted  by  the  advocates  of  Free  Trade  that  the  consumer  pays  the  duty  im¬ 
posed  by  the  Tariff  in  all  cases.  This  is  grossly  untrue,  because  we  manufacture  many  ar¬ 
ticles  cheaper  than  they  could  be  imported  without  any  duty.  But  the  Free  Trader  says- 
this  is  specially  true  in  regard  to  those  articles  which  are  not  made  here.  On  one  article  I 
can  speak  from  personal  knowledge,  viz  ,  crockery,  of  which  there  is  but  one  small  manufac¬ 
tory  in  this  country  having  no  influence  on  its  price. 

“  By  the  late  Tariff  the  duty  was  raised  from  20  to  30  per  cent.  This  article  is  regulated 
in  England  by  a  list  made  in  1814,  and  from  this  price  a  discount  is  made.  Before  the  pas¬ 
sage  of  the  Tariff,  the  discount  was  (for  cash  in  England)  45  per  cent.  An  importation 


would  theu  stand  thus  on,  say,  .....  £100 

45  per  cent,  discount  -  -  -  -  45 


£55 

Duty  20  per  cent.  -  -  -  -  -  11 


Cost,  including  duty  -  -  -  -  £66 


“  Immediately  on  the  passage  of  the  Tariff,  the  British  manufacturers  increased  their  dis¬ 
count  to  50  per  cent ,  and  an  importation  now  stands  thus,  on  -  £100 

50  per  cent,  discount  -  -  -  -  -  50 

#  - 

£50 

Duty  30  per  cent.  .....  15 


£65 


“  Thus  showing  that  the  article  is  now  imported  1£  per  cent,  cheaper,  besides  the  gain  on 
exchange,  &c.  In  this  case,  then,  the  increase  of  duty  was  in  fact  paid  by  the  British  man¬ 
ufacturer,  who  met  that  increase  by  a  larger  discount ;  and  the  article  is  now  sold  by  the  job¬ 
ber  10  per  cent.  lower  than  in  1841.  An  Importer.” 

j  Extract  of  a  letter  from  N«w  York ,  dated  February  23,  1844.] 

“  With  regard  to  the  effect  of  the  late  Tariff  upon  iron,  it  is  a  subject  that  w*e  have  look¬ 
ed  at  with  some  care,  and  have  little  hesitation  in  expressing  our  opinion,  which  is,  that  iron 
is  not  higher  under  the  present  duty  than  it  would  have  been  under  a  20  per  cent,  duty ;  in 
other  words,  that  the  foreign  producer  pays  the  duty.  And,  again,  we  have  no  doubt  that 
if,  for  example,  the  present  Congress  should  reduce  the  duty  on  rolled  iron  (now  paying  $25 
a  ton)  five  dollars  or  ten  dollars  a  ton,  the  English  ironmasters  would  at  once  advance  their 
price  twenty  shillings  or  forty* shillings  sterling  a  ton,  and  get  it. 

“  We  are  satisfied  of  this,  riot  only  from  former  experience,  but  from  the  present  features 
of  the  foreign  iron  market.  It  would  be  naturally  supposed,  and  is  often  said,  that,  with 
the  immense  domestic  consumption  of  iron  in  England,  and  their  other  large  markets,  the 
loss  of  ours  could  not  sensibly  affect  the  price ;  but  it  does  practically  do  it,  and  on  this  prin¬ 
ciple,  that  is,  the  surplus  of  an  article  on  the  market  depresses  the  price — so  that  if,  iu  a 
production  of  six  or  eight  hundred  thousand  tons,  the  usual  market  for  fifty  thousand  is  cut 
off,  the  whole  mass  must  suffer  till  a  reduced  price  or  a  diminished  production  gives  an  out¬ 
let  for  the  surplus.  Your  millers  are  well  aware  of  this  in  flour.  It  is  the  ten  or  fifty  thou¬ 
sand  barrels  too  much  that  make  them  all  the  trouble. 

“  Why  do  our  disinterested  countrymen  declaim  so  strong  about  the  English  corn  laws? 
Is  it  that  they  hope,  at  a  reduced  duty,  the  poor  operative  may  buy  his  flour  cheaper,  or  that 
we  may  sell  it  dearer? 

“  We  have  many  illustrations  of  the  way  in  which  our  duties  affect  prices  abroad.  A 
striking  example  is  in  recent  quotations.  Hoop  iron,  which  was  formerly  10  to  20s.  per  ton 
more,  is  now  quoted  20s.  less  thau  refined  bar  iron.  The  reason  is,  our  duty  on  hoop  iron  is 
increased  in  a  greater  proportion,  and  they  must  sell  it  for  this,  or  not  sell  it  at  all.” 

The  effect  is  the  same  upon  every  article  imported  into  this  country,  coming 
in  competition  with  articles  of  our  own  manufacture.  The  home  market  of 
every  country  is  die  most  important  one,  the  exports  forming  but  a  small  propor¬ 
tion  of  the  article  produced,  and  the  manufacturer  finds  it  for  his  interest  to  crowd, 
off  his  surplus  at  prime  cost,  and  sometimes  at  a  trifling  loss,  if,  by  doing  so,  he 


can  get  rid  of  his  surplus,  maintain  prices  at  home,  and  keep  his  establishment 
moving.  Hence  it  is,  that  it  we  find  the  foreign  manufacturer,  upon  the  imposi¬ 
tion  of  additional  duties,  continuing  to  supply  our  markets,  and  competing  with 
our  manufacturers  by  reducing  prices  so  low  that,  in  many  instances,  the  consu¬ 
mer  obtains  the  imported  article  at  a  less  price  than  he  did  before  the  duty  was 
advanced.  Do  away  with  competition,  and  the  price  rises.  Destroy  your  own 
manufactories,  and  you  are  at  the  mercy  of  foreigners,  who  will  not  long  continue 
to  supply  you  at  prices  below  which  the  articles  cannot  be  produced. 

It  is  contended  that  under  our  Tariff  manufacturers  are  a  privileged  class — 
that  the  agriculturist  needs  none,  nor  does  he  desire  any  protection  from  it.  Let 
us  see  if  that  be  the  case,  and  how  the  matter  stands.  At  prices  agricultural  pro¬ 
ducts  were  bringing  in  January  last,  they  would  pay,  if  imported,  the  following 
duty :  ( 


Cotton,  3  cents  per  lb.  or  30  percent,  ad  val, 
Wool,  30  p.c  and  3  c  p  lb.  40 
Beef,  2  cents  per  lb.  or  64 
Pork,  2  “  “  34 

Bacon,  3  “  “  52 

Lard,  3  “  “  50 


Cheese,  9 


<4 


ISO 


44 

44 

44 

44 

44 

44 


Butter,  5  cts.  per  lb.  or  51  percent,  ad  val. 
Potatoes,  9  “  per  bu.  36  “ 

Flour, 122|  “  per  bbl.  25  “ 

Wheat,  25  “  per  bu.  25  “ 

Oats,  10“  “  33 

Hemp,  $40  per  ton,  or  30  “ 


On  the  articles  enumerated  there  is  an  average  duty  of  50  per  cent.  That 
these  articles  need  protection  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  there  are  more  or  less  of 
them  imported,  notwithstanding  the  duties  are  high.  Take  the  four  articles  of 
hemp,  wheat,  potatoes,  and  wool  exceeding  in  value  8  cents  per  pound,  and  the 
importation  for  the  last  six  years  averages  §238,000  annually,  more  than  the 
average  of  wheat  and  flour  exported  to  Great  Britain  during  the  same  period. — - 
Many  other  articles  are  protected,  which  directly  benefit  the  agriculturist. 

It  appears  by  the  last,  census  that  there  were  792,000  persons  engaged  in 
manufacturing,  add  to  which  the  laborers  in  and  about  the  various  establish¬ 
ments,  wirfi  their  families  and  dependents,  and  it  will  swell  the  number  to  near 
four  millions,  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  manufacturing  population  of  the 
country,  all  of  whom  are  consumers  of  agricultural  products.  Change  this  po¬ 
pulation  into  producers,  and  where  would  be  your  market? 

“  It  is  said  to  be  ascertained  that  the  Glenham  Woojlen  Factory,  at  Fishkill,  in 
New  York,  with  a  capital  of  §140,000,  gives  profitable  employment  to  §1,432,- 
000  of  other  capital,  chiefly  agricultural,  in  items  as  follows:  66,000  sheep,  at 
§2  a  head,  §132,000;  22,000  acres  of  pasture  land,  to  feed  sheep,  in  Dutchess 
count}^,  supposed  to  be  worth  §50  per  acre,  §1,100,000  ;  farms  employed  to  the 
extent  of  2,600  acres,  worth  §70  an  acre,  §182,000;  other  capital,  to  furnish 
tenants  fire  wood  and  provender,  &c.,  $8,000  :  consequently,  if  §140.000  manu¬ 
facturing  capital  employs  §1,432,000  of  other  capital,  then  the  §300,000,000 
manufacturing  capital  in  the  United  States,  at  the  same  rate,  would  employ  other 
capital  of  the  country  to  the  amount  of  §3,068,571,428.  This  shows  that  Amer¬ 
ican  manufactures  give  employment  to  a  vast  amount  of  agricultural  capital. ” 

The  farmers  of  the  country,  of  which  class  more  than  a  million  are  engaged 
in  growing  wool,  receive  annually  forty  millions  of  dollars  from  this  source,  and 
fGr  the  subsistence  of  operatives  in  woollen  and  iron  establishments,  twenty-six 
millions — in  all  sixty  six  millions — being  more  than  eight  times  as  much  as  all  the 
American  flour,  beef,  and  pork  consumed  by  all  the  foreign  markets  of  the  world. 

It  appears  by  the  estimate  of  the  Commissioner  of  Patents,  that  the  quantity 
of  wheat  inised  in  the  United  Stales  in.  1842,  was  102  317,340  bushels,  an  d,by 
the  commercial  document,  that,  the  whole  amount,  of  wheat  sent  abroad,  estimat¬ 
ing  five  bushels  to  the  barrel,  was  only  7,235,968  bushels,  being  about  one  fif¬ 
teenth  of  the  whole  crop.  It  also  appears  that  there  was  raised  the  same  year,  in 


14 

the  country,  441,829,246  bushels  of  Indian  corn,  and  the  commercial  document 
shows  that  only  1.684,000  bushels  were  sent  out  of  the  country.  The  impor¬ 
tance  of  a  home  market  will  appear  from  the  fact  that  the  New  England  States 
consume  annually,  beyond  their  own  production,  7,000,000  bushels  of  wheat, 
which  is  about  500,000  bushels  more  than  the  average  exports  of  the  whole  coun¬ 
try.  Of  other  grain,  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island  consume,  of  the  products 
of  other  States,  at  least  3,675,000  bushels,  nearly  three  times  the  amount  sent 
abroad  annually.  Massachusetts  alone  consumes,  of  the  products  of  other  States, 
more  than  forty  millions  of  dollars,  equal  to  one  half  the  annual  exports  of  the 
produce  of  the  United  States,  exclusive  of  manufactured  articles.  It  is  estimated 
by  Mr.  Hudson  that  the  four  millions  of  persons  dependant  upon  manufactures, 
furnish  a  market  to  Western  States  worth  ten  times  as  much  as  all  other  markets 
in  the  world. 

With  the  exception  of  cotton  and  tobacco,  our  agricultural  products  exported 
do  not  exceed  sixteen  millions  annually.  All  the  rest,  of  our  immense  products, 
amounting  to  more  than  $2,000,000,  is  consumed  at  home,  always  finding  a  cer¬ 
tain  market,  while  the  foreign  market  is  unceitain,  depending,  more  or  less,  upon 
the  crop  in  Europe,  where,  if  the  crop  is  abundant,  the  excess  is  thrown  back 
upon  the  home  market,  reducing  the  price  of  the  whole  crop,  or  is  forced  abroad 
at  a  great  sacrifice.  “  The  annual  production  of  wool  may  be  estimated  at  $16,- 
000,000 — withdraw  protection  from  that  interest,  and  it  must,  in  a  great  measure, 
be  abandoned  :  protect  wool  and  neglect  to  protect  the  woollen  manufacturer, 
and  you  destroy  the  heme  market  for  wool.”  Protection  does  not  destroy  com¬ 
merce;  on  the  contrary,  it  tends  to  increase  it :  the  freight  of  die-stuffs,  barilla, 
and  the  thousand  articles  imported,  which  are  consumed  in  manufacturing,  em- 
ploy  a  ten  fold  greater  amount  of  shipping  than  would  be  required  to  bring  the 
manufactured  article  to  the  country.  In  case  a  protective  Tariff  did  injure  com¬ 
merce,  would  there  be  any  good  reason  why  the  interests  of  the  792,000  engaged 
in  manufacturing  should  be  sacrificed  to  benefit  the  1 1 7.000  engaged  in  commerce  ? 

The  average  price  of  flour  and  wheat  in  the  United  States,  from  1  S3 1  to  1841, 
was,  according  to  the  prices  current  of  those  years,  $6.65  per  barrel,  and  $1.30  a 
bushel,  whereas,  the  average  price,  during  the  same  period,  in  Europe,  was  $4.93 
a  barrel,  and  98  cents  a  bushel  ;  which  shows  how  much  wheat  and  flour  must 
have  declined  in  this  country,  before  it.  could  have  found  a  foreign  market.  Not 
one-twentieth  of  the  products  of  the  country  are  marketed  abroad,  which  shows 
how  unimportant  the  foreign  market  is,  when  compared  with  the  home  market. 
“  Prom  1836  to  1840,  the  average  annual  exports  of  all  our  agricultural  products, 
exclusive  of  cotton,  was  only  $1 1,766,615,  of  which  $5,353,818  was  the  annual 
export  to  Great  Britain.  Our  whole  average  exports,  for  the  same  time,  was 
$102,588,892,  of  which  the  export  of  cotton  was  $64,238,235,  leaving  only 
$33,350,367  as  the  average  annual  export  of  all  our  products  for  those  years/* 
Although  our  exports  at  times  have  increased,  yet  that  increase  has  been  makily 
confined  to  cotton. 

During  ten  years,  from  1820  to  1830,  of  tolerable  protective  policy,  we  paid 
off  one  hundred  millions  of  foreign  debt.  During  the  next  ten  years,  from  1830 
to  1840,  of  comparative  Free  Trade,  we  contracted  a  foreign  debt  of  two  hun¬ 
dred  millions.  During  the  first  period,  our  imports  were  $798,500,000 — during 
the  second  period  they  were  $1 ,302,500,000, being  nearly  double  the  amountirn- 
ported  during  the  first.  From  1835  to  1840,  the  golden  era  of  Free  Trade,  the  bal¬ 
ance  of  trade  against  us  was  more  than  $132,000,000,  bankrupting  and  distressing 
the  country  beyond  endurance  A  great  deal  is  said  about  the  inequality  of  the 
present  Tariff,  and  one  would  suppose,  from  representations  upon  this  floor,  that 
our  system  of  taxation  was  the  most  grinding  in  the  world. 


15 

Great  Britain,  under  her  new  Tariff,  for  which  she  has  so  much  credit  award¬ 
ed  her,  imposes  upon  our  salt  beef  a  duty  of  60  per  cent.,  bacon  109  per  cent.,, 
butter  TO  per  cent.,  corn  32  per  cent.,  flour  32  per  cent,  average,  unmanufactur¬ 
ed  tobacco  1000  per  cent.,  manufactured  tobacco  1200  per  cent.,  salt  pork  33  per 
cent.,  soap  200  per  cent.,  spirits  from  grain  500  per  cent.,  spirits  from  molasses 
1600  per  cent.,  making  a  large  discrimination  in  favor  of  her  colonies,  intended 
as  a  protection  to  her  own  industry.  Nor  is  this  policy  confined  to  Great  Britain. 
Every  other  country  has  adopted  the  same  general  fo’icy.  “  While  Mexico  has 
adopted  recently  a  Tariff  which  is  prohibitory,  Chili  and  the  other  Governments 
of  South  America  impose  a  duty  almost  equal  to  that  of  Great  Britain  upon  our 
productions.  The  policy  of  Spain  is  prohibitory.  Portugal,  Russia,  and  the 
Netherlands  prohibit  substantially  our  bread  stuffs,  says  Mr.  Hudson,  while 
Prance  adopts  the  principle  of  protecting  her  own  industry,  prohibiting  generally 
iron  and  its  manufactured  articles,  shoes,  carriages,  cotton  and  woollen  goods,  cut 
and  window  glass,  and  whatever  else  comes  in  competition  with  her  own  indus¬ 
try.”  From  this  view  of  the  policy  of  other  nations,  the  Committee,  as  I  think, 
wisely  come  to  the  conclusion  that  we  should  not  relax  our  present  policy.  One 
would  suppose  that,  taxed  and  rejected  as  the  products  of  this  country  are  by 
other  countries,  the  strictest  constructionist  would  acknowledge  the  propriety  of 
a  discriminating  Tariff,  if  upon  no  other  ground  than  to  countervail  the  unequal 
restrictions  upon  our  own  products,  in  self-defence.  In  1841,  our  imports  were 
$127,945,000,  and  our  exports  $91,000,000.  Upon  the  amount  imported,  we 
collected  1 1J  per  cent,  duties,  amounting  to  $14,487,000  ;  whereas,  foreign  coun¬ 
tries  collected  upon  our  exports,  that  year,  $113,500,000,  or  124  per  cent. — 
There  was  a  time  when  the  people  of  this  country  would  have  cried  out,  as  one 
man,  against  so  unequal  a  policy — declaring,  in  the  spirit  of  true  patriotism, 
that  we  had  millions  for  defence,  and  that  we  will  no  longer  pay  so  unequal 
a  tribute  without  huriing  back  the  blow.  The  spirit  and  independence  of  the 
golden  age  has  departed,  and  the  strife  appears  to  be,  on  this  floor,  to  obtain  the 
unenviable  distinction  of  being  most  instrumental  in  reducing  the  people  of  thi& 
country  to  colonial  vassalage. 

Some  time  since  there  appeared  about  to  be  formed  a  matiimonial  alliance  upon 
this  floor  between  the  South  and  the  West.  The  honorable  gentleman  from  South 
Carolina,  (Mr.  Holmes,)  who  made  the  learned  and  constitutional  argument  so 
convincing  to  himself  that  the  most  refined  abstractionist  could  not  discover  any 
thing  in  an  appropriation  for  the  improvement  of  the  Western  rivers  that  in  the  least 
infringed  upon  the  Constitution,  in  the  capacity  of  a  lover,  commenced  early  in 
the  session  to  woo,  and  apparently  was  about  not  only  to  win  the  affection,  but 
to  obtain  the  heart  and  hand  of  the  beautiful  Western  bride  who  seemed  readv 
to  surrender  herself,  with  all  her  virgin  charms,  into  the  arms  of  the  gallant  and 
chivalrous  South  Carolina,  who  held  out  to  her  in  the  improvement  of  their 
rivers  and  the  destruction  of  the  Tariff,  which  were  the  conditions  of  the  match, 
assurances  of  her  realizing  the  brightest  promises  of  hope.  How  the  matter 
stands,  and  what  progress  has  been  made,  I  do  not  pretend  to  know.  At  the 
time,  appearances  indicated,  that,  as  the  match  was  a  most  distinguished  one,, 
the  nuptials  would  be  celebrated  with  all  pomp  and  ceremony,  and  that  in  due 
time  the  parties  would  set  forth  upon  a  magnificent  bridal  tour  around  the  world  ; 
their  interests  being  separate,  notwithstanding  t hey^  had  taken  each  other  for  bet¬ 
ter  or  for  worse,  the  worse  being  sure  all  along  to  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  Western 
bride,  as  they  were  to  act  as  supercargoes  of  divided  interests,  each  diplomatising 
for  themselves  ir*  all  their  commercial  operations.  They  will  appear,  of  course, 
p2  the  great  commercial  marts  of  Europe — England,  Prance,  Germany,  and  else¬ 
where — flushed  with  extravagant  anticipations,  and  robed  in  all  the  dignity  of 
their  high  diplomatic  mission,  exhibiting  the  scroll  upon  which  is  recorded  the 


16 

principles  of  Free  Trade,  a  horizontal  Tariff,  and  20  per  cent,  duties — unde¬ 
niable  evidence  of  the  immense  sacrifices  of  their  country  to  the  modern  ab« 
stractionism — Free  Trade.  They  will  be  met  and  congratulated  for  their  far- 
reaching  wisdom  in  adopting  the  doctrine  of  Free  Trade,  which,  they  will  be 
told,  is  exactly  adapted  to  the  United  States,  who  alone  of  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  can  reap  a  golden  harvest  under  its  dispensation.  The  cargo  of  the  gen¬ 
tleman  from  South  Carolina  will  be  in  such  demand  that  he  will  be  permitted  to 
enter  England  or  France,  with  all  his  commodities,  by  paying  a  mere  nominal 
tribute,  because  they  have  to  compete  with  the  world  in  the  markets  of  the  gen¬ 
tleman  from  South  Carolina,  as  well  as  those  of  the  West,  in  the  sale  of  the  iden¬ 
tical  article  purchased  of  him,  enhanced  in  value  hundreds  of  per  cent,  by  rea¬ 
son  of  foreign  labor  bestowed  upon  it.  While  the  confiding  bride,  who  had 
been  induced  to  join  her  fortune  to  his,  with  the  assurance  that  the  expedition 
would  end  in  their  mutual  weal,  instead  of  which,  when  too  late,  finds  with  all 
her  blandishment  and  charms,  that  she  is  not  to  be  treated  with  common  civility, 
many  of  her  articles  meeting  with  total  rejection,  while  others  are  only  admitted 
at  30,  50,  104  to  1600  per  cent. ;  and  although  she  may  remonstrate  against 
such  ruinous  conditions,  and  the  ingallantry  of  him  who  had  espoused  her  but 
to  deceive,  deserting  her  in  the  hour  of  trial  when  his  aid  was  most  ueeded, 
and  when  it  would  have  been  supposed,  such  was  the  sacrifices  she  had 
made  in  confiding  her  fortunes  to  his  guidance,  that  his  manly  nature  would 
have  risen  in  arms,  making  common  cause  with  her  against  such  unrighteous 
demands,  instead  of  which,  the  chivalry  which  the  South  inherited  from  their 
fathers  will  have  departed,  and  he  would  be  found  repudiating  his  fair  spouse, 
suffering  her  to  continue  knocking  in  vain  at  the  doors  of  the  great  commercial 
temples  for  admission  on  more  liberal  terms,  until  “  her  locks  are  wet  with  the 
dew-drops  of  the  night,”  when,  at  last,  heart  broken  and  dejected,  she  is  com¬ 
pelled  to  pay  the  ungenerous  tribute,  and  returns  home,  bankrupted  in  estate, 
and  dispirited,  her  indulgent  mother  would  demand  a  divorce  from  so  unholy 
a  union  ;  which,  I  will  venture  to  predict,  that,  should  her  Representatives  upon 
this  floor  ever  attempt  to  renew,  they  would  not  be  permitted,  the  second  time, 
an  opportunity  to  disgrace  her  fair  fame  and  bankrupt  her  estate.  No,  sir, 
the  manufacturing  interest,  suitably  protected,  is  yet  to  form  the  proudest  jewel 
in  the  crown  of  the  West. 

I  believe  it  is  conceded  by  all  writers  upon  political  economy,  that  population 
is  wealth  to  a  nation.  What  purely  agricultural  nation  has  ever  become  very 
wealthy,  or  densely  populated  in  modern  times?  On  the  contrary,  is  not  every 
nation  most  elevated  in  its  condition,  both  morally  and  intellectually,  and  en¬ 
joying  the  greatest  amount  of  this  world’s  comfort,  more  or  less  a  manufactur¬ 
ing  nation  ?  If  this  be  the  case,  and  I  understand  it  to  be  so,  and  that  it  is 
equally  certain  that  we  cannot  become  a  manufacturing  people  and  compete 
with  the  old  world  without  ample  protection,  until  our  populaiion  is  reduced  to 
the  degraded  and  miserable  condition  of  the  laboring  classes  abroad,  which  may 
God  m  his  mercy  long  protect  us  from.  If  population  is  wealth — a  sufficient 
amount  of  which  can  never  be  attained  in  purely  agricultural  pursuits  to  de- 
velope  all  the  resources  of  the  country,  and  to  better,  at  the  same  lime,  the  con¬ 
dition  of  the  agriculturist — the  question  arises,  how,  or  in  what  possible  way, 
can  that  population  be  obtained,  but  by  protecting  and  fostering  every  branch 
of  home  industry?  Nothing  appears  more  clear  than  that,  the  object  cannot 
be  obtained  in  any  other  way. 

Western  gentlemen  object  to  this,  because,  as  they  say,  it  is  building  up  the 
manufacturing  interest  at  the  expense  of  the  agriculturalist.  Nothing  is  more 
falacious,  in  my  humble  opinion,  than  this  argument.  On  the  contrary,  the 
.agricultural  interest  is  benefitted  ten  fold  beyond  the  petty  tax  that  it  is  subject 


17 

to,  in  consequence  of  any  Tariff  necessary  to  protect  manufactures  in  the 
country  against  foreign  competition — nor  is  there  any  section  of  country  to 
more  extensively  benefitted  through  all  coming  time  by  a  manufacturing  popu¬ 
lation  than  the  lair  and  beautiful  West.  What  is  it  that  equalises  the  markets 
through  the  length  and  breadth,  from  the  centre  to  the  extreme  of  the  United 
Kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  but  the  immense  cities  built  up  by  its  vast  manu¬ 
facturing  interests — making  the  agricultural  products  of  the  country  worth 
as  much  at  Manchester,  Leeds,  Birmingham,  Glasgow,  hundreds  of  miles  from 
London,  as  in  that  city?  Clearly  nothing.  Without  these  cities,  the  markets 
for  the  remote  sections  of  the  country  would  be  London,  the  productions  of 
which  would  be  subjected  to  no  inconsiderable  expense  in  transporting  it  to 
market,  which  is  now  entirely  saved  to  the  agriculturalist  by  reason  of  hid 
home  market,  without  which  there  would  be  many  articles  of  that  class  most 
profitable  to  produce  which  would  not  bare  transportation,  such  as  hay,  fruit* 
vegetables,  milk,  <fcc.,  from  the  production  of  which  they  would  be  cut  off. 
What  is  it  but  the  superior  advantage  of  the  markets  at  Boston,  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  and  all  our  large  towns  for  every  kind  of  agricultural  produc¬ 
tion,  and  more  particularly  that  class  of  articles  which  will  not  bare  trans¬ 
portation,  that  makes  the  land  in  the  neighborhood  of  those  cities  and  towns 
worth  one  hundred  to  five  hundred  dollars  an  acre,  while  better  improved 
lands  in  the  West  may  be  obtained  from  five  to  twenty  dollars  the  acre0 
Suppose  a  Manchester,  a  Birmingham,  a  Leeds,  and  a  Glasgow  should  rise  up 
in  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Missouri,  and  Iowa,  making  a  home  market* 
would  they  not  make  the  country  around  these  cities  a  garden,  enhance  the 
value  of  real  estate,  equalizing  the  price  of  agricultural  productions  as  in 
England?  Think  you  not  that  the  agricultural  interest  of  that  region  would 
would  be  benefitted  vastly  beyond  any  tax  it  would  be  subjected  to  in  conse¬ 
quence  of  a  Tariff  sufficiently  high  to  enable  manufacturers  to  sustain  them¬ 
selves  against  foreign  competition  ?  The  doctrine  of  Free  Trade  appears  much 
better  on  paper  than  in  practice,  if  it  is  to  result,  as  it  must,  in  the  the  pros¬ 
tration  of  our  own  manufacturing  interest,  making  us  dependent  upon  foreign¬ 
ers  for  many  of  the  necessaries  as  well  as  most  of  the  luxuries  of  life.  No 
policy  is  so  well  calculated  to  impoverish  the  country,  and  make  the  great  mass 
of  the  people,  who  in  this  country  must  always  be  agriculturists,  hewers  of 
wood  and  drawers  of  water  to  the  commercial  interest  and  to  foreigners.  There 
are  many  portions  of  the  West  at  this  time  from  which  it  would  cost  to  trans¬ 
port  a  bushel  of  wheat  to  England,  including  insurance,  commissions,  & c., 
for  selling,  some  eighty-seven  and  a  half  cents,  add  to  which  five  shillings  for 
duty,  and  it  will  cost  in  England  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents,  leav  ing  to  the  pro¬ 
ducer  in  Illinois,  after  paying  all  charges,  taking  the  average  price  to  be  in 
the  English  markets,  one  dollar  and  seventy-five  cents — twenty-five  cents  a 
bushel — the  freight  alone  amounting  to  more  than  three- fourths  of  a  dollar  per 
bushel,  while  the  average  freight  of  the  articles  returned  to  Illinois  to  pay 
with  would  not  exceed  an  English  penny  for  each  bushel.  Does  it  not  follow* 
then,  that  the  Western  farmer  is  taxed  by  a  system  of  Free  Trade  for  the  bene¬ 
fit  of  British  manufactures  vastly  beyond  what  he  would  be  required  to  contri¬ 
bute  in  the  way  of  protecting  the  manufacturer  at  home  who  would  be  able  to 
give  him  a  much  larger  quantity  of  his  manufactured  articles  for  the  produc- 
auctions  of  his  farm  than  they  would  bring  him  in  foreign  markets. 

Is  it  not  clear,  then,  that  this  system  of  Free  Trade,  which,  by  the  way„ 
would  be  free  on  one  side  to  foreigners  and  foreign  production,  while  it  would 
be  prohibition  and  everlasting  taxation  on  the  part  of  all  the  productions  of  this 
country,  is  directly  calculated  to  impoverish  the  country,  particularly  the  agri¬ 
cultural  interest  for  the  benefit  of  foreigners;  a  few  commmon  carriers,  and  the 


18 

commercial  interest  of  the  country — raising  up  a  few  overgrown  and  splendid  At¬ 
lantic  cities  to  i he  total  destruction  of  any  thing  of  the  kind  in  the  country? 
Nothing  appears  more  clear  to  me  than  that  it  would  reduce  the  people  of 
this  country  to  the  deplorable  condition  of  those  of  Europe,  prostituting  and 
prostrating  our  boasted  independence,  making  us  slaves  in  fact,  although  free 
in  name,  instead  of  that  elevated,  free,  intellectual,  and  high  minded  race  which 
our  fathers,  the  founders  of  the  Republic,  in  their  visions  of  glory,  anticipated 
we  should  be. 

The  honorable  gentleman  from  Mississippi,  (Mr.  Hammett,)  in  a  speech, 
upon  another  subject,  made  upon  this  floor  some  time  since,  drew  a  contrast 
between  the  slaves  of  this  country  and  the  laborers  of  Italy  and  France,  show¬ 
ing  the  condition  of  the  former  to  be  vastly  superior  to  that  of  the  latter.  It 
fell  to  my  lot,  a  few  years  since,  to  witness  the  condition  of  the  European  la¬ 
borer.  When  in  Portugal — once  so  powerful  and  wealthy,  the  discoveries  of 
India,  from  whom  Great  Britain  at  one  time  was  compelled  to  obtain  a  per¬ 
mit  to  pass  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope — while  wandering  along  the 
Tagus,  whose  golden  and  jewelled  sands  had  jemmed  the  earth,  from  whence 
the  gallant  Exmouth,  in  her  palmy  days,  had  borne  beneath  the  broad  pendant 
of  the  Mistress  of  the  Seas,  an  Empress  to  the  Imperial  sea-girt  Isle — at  Gre¬ 
nada,  in  Spain,  that  earthly  Eden  and  lost  Paradise  of  the  Moors,  in  the  midst 
of  flowers  and  fruit  forever  fair — along  the  Garon  and  Loir,  the  garden  of 
France,  in  the  midst  of  beautiful  chateaus  and  vine-clad  hills — where  the 
sweet  notes  of  the  Nightingale  enchant  the  groves  with  music  scarcely  less  of 
heavenly  origin  than  if  the  morning  stars  had  sang  together— rail  nature  seemed 
rejoicing,  while  man,  alone,  for  whose  benefit  all  these  things  were  created, 
appeared  unhappy,  the  veriest  slave  in  existence,  chained  down  to  the  earth, 
and  forced,  like  the  quarry  slave,  to  work  from  morning  to  night  for  barely 
enough  to  keep  from  starvation — mechanics  and  the  laborer  of  the  field,  making 
their  noon  day  meal  upon  a  crust  of  bread  and  water,  with  now  and  then  the 
trare  luxury  of  fruit.  It  was  then  that  I  turned  to  my  own,  my  native  land, 
with  exultation,  and  thanked  my  God  that  the  condition  of  my  countrymen 
was  elevated  so  far  above  those  children  of  poverty  and  oppression. 

Jt  has  long  been  a  matter  of  national  pride  with  us  that  the  condition  of  the 
masses  in  this  country  is  so  vastly  superior  to  that  of  those  of  Europe,  should 
it  not  be  a  matter  of  equal  pride  with  the  people’s  Representatives  to  maintain 
through  all  coming  time  that  superiority?  And  how  can  it  be  done  but  by 
guarding  our  own  industry  against  the  unequal  competition  of  that  labor  whose 
reward  is  starvation,  and  which,  if  sufferod  to  come  in  competition  with  our 
own,  must  sooner  or  later  reduce  the  laboring  classes  in  this  country  to  the  same 
miserable  condition.  An  all-wise  Providence  has  placed  in  our  hands  all  the 
elements  necessary,  if  properly  husbanded,  to  make  us  prosperous  and  happy 
for  generations  to  come.  Let  us  guard,  then,  with  a  vigilant  eye,  the  vast 
domain  which  has  been  so  bountifully  bestowed  upon  us,  to  be  held  in  trust 
for  distribution  to  occupants  during  this  and  coming  generations.  If  so  appor¬ 
tioned  out  with  the  proper  protection  of  our  own  industry,  they  will  prove  the 
instrument,  which  will  long  continue  to  elevate  our  condition  above  any  other 
portion  of  our  race. 

It  is  urged  that  manufacturing  will  endanger  our  free  institutions,  that  it  be¬ 
gets  ignorance  and  vice,  engenders  disease,  and  shortens  life.  This  is  untrue  in 
every  respect.  There  are  no  more  intelligent  and  virtuous  working  class  of 
people,  and  more  zealous  of  their  rights  as  freemen,  than  the  manufacturers  and 
mechanics  of  this  Country.  In  1833,  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  ap¬ 
pointed  commissioners,  whose  duty  it  was  made  to  inquire  into  the  condition 
of  the  manufacturing  population,  from  whose  report  it  appears,  that  the  state  of 


19 

morals  was  as  perfect,  and  in  some  respects  more  perfect  than  among  other 
classes.  The  instances  of  illegitimacy  were  no  more  numerous  than  among 
the  agricultural  classes,  while  the  average  time  of  sickness  was  much  less  than 
that  of  any  other  class.  The  important  fact  appears,  that  during  the  raging  of 
the  cholera  in  Manchester,  in  1832,  the  manufacturing  population  actually  em¬ 
ployed  in  factories,  escaped  almost  entirely  its  ravages.  In  one  factory  em¬ 
ploying  over  1,500  hands  there  were  but  four  cases,  and  in  many  others  not  a 
single  case.  The  workmen  became  so  -strongly  impressed  with  the  belief  that 
there  was  something  in  the  atmosphere  of  a  factory  that  protected  them  from  the 
disease,  that  they  hurried  back  from  their  meals  to  their  work  as  the  only  place  of 
safety.  They  were  paid  more  liberal  wages,  enjoyed  more  of  the  comforts 
of  life  than  the  agricultural  classes.  The  number  who  could  read  and  write 
bore  a  fair  average  with  those  employed  in  agriculture  and  other  branches  of 
labor,  while  the  history  of  the  times  establishes  (he  fact  that  they  were  as  zea¬ 
lous  of  their  rights,  more  active,  intelligent,  and  effective  reformers,  than  any 
other  class  in  England.  The  history  of  the  world  shows  that  the  manufactur¬ 
ers,  mechanics,  and  artisans  of  every  age,  have  proved  as  able  and  intelligent 
defenders  of  their  individual  rights,  as  bold  and  patriotic  reformers  as  any  other 
class  whatever;  which  should  put  forever  to  flight  the  unfounded  imputation  that 
employment  of  the  kind  is  calculated  to  beget  ignorance,  degrade,  and  vitiate 
the  mind.  Without  going  into  detail  to  show  the  bettered  condition  of  Eng¬ 
land,  Germany,  Fiance,  and  many  other  countrys,  in  consequence  of  their  going 
extensively  into  manufacturing,  if  I  may  be  permitted,  I  will  refer  to  a  little 
kingdom  nearly  connected  with  the  events  which  ended  in  the  discovery  of  this 
country,  which  early  distinguished  itself  in  promoting  the  arts,  sciences,  agri¬ 
culture,  and  manufactures,  and  whose  inhabitants  are  rarely  thought  of  but  as 
a  race  of  infidels,  and  barbarians,  long  since  swept  from  the  earth.  The  kingdom 
to  which  I  allude,  is  Granada,  in  Spain,  the  foundation  of  which  is  ascribed  to 
the  Jews  lead  captive  in  the  train  of  Nebuchadnezar,  when  he  came  to  Spain 
after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  when  they  are  supposed  to  have  built  the 
cities  of  Toledo  and  Granada;  these  cities  did  not  attain  much  note  till  the  con¬ 
quest  of  Spain  by  the  Saracens,  after  which,  it  was  apportioned  out  amongst 
the  conquerors.  The  Musselmauof  Egypt,  settled  in  Mucia,  the  Royal  legion 
of  Ernessa,  in  Seville,  that  of  Casarine,  in  Jaen,  that  of  Palestine,  in  Midona 
Sidona,  while  the  fruitful  dominions  of  Granada  was  assigned  to  ten  thousand 
cavaliers  who  were  said  to  have  been  of  the  noblest  blood  of  Arabia.  “  The 
colonists  kept  up  their  ancient  distinction,  after  naming  their  places  after  that 
of  their  nativity.  The  Saracens  called  them  upon  the  bank  of  the  Douro,  Da¬ 
mascus,  which  soon  lost  its  boundaries  in  the  growing  extent,  of  the  Albecian 
which  still  bares  the  name  of  Granada.  They  are  said  to  have  been  led  to 
give  it  the  name  of  Damascus  from  other  considerations,  than  love  and  venera¬ 
tion  for  their  native  city.  “  Granada,  like  Damascus,  enjoyed  a  fertility  so 
constant,  that  scarcity  is  said  never  to  have  been  known  within  its  borders;”  it 
also  had  its  two  rivers,  and  many  springs,  bathing  its  walls  and  cleansing  its 
streets,  passing  in  cooling  streams  through  its  houses,  and  gushing  up  every 
where  in  fountains  ;  nor  does  the  Douro  furnish  a  beverage  less  delightful  to 
the.  Granadians,  than  the  Tora  to  the  natives  of  Damascus.”  “The  Silver 
Genii  like  the  Barada  of  Damascus,  laves  the  southern  confines  of  the  city, 
while  the  Syrca  Naveda,  with  its  snow-crowned  ridges,  pierce  the  clouds  rising 
like  another  Mount  Lebanon  at  its  back.”  In  that  romantic  region  of  beautiful 
valleys  and  everlasting  mountains,  distinguished  for  perpetual  snows,  and 
flowers  of  perreniai  bloom,  denominated  the  lost  Paradise- of  the  Moors,  one  may 
well  imagine  as  lie  looks  down  from  the  towers  of  the  Alhambra,  upon  the  Vega 
of  Granada,  that  if  it  is  not  the  upper  Paradise,  that  its  concentrated  beauties 


20 

are  their  imaged  forth,  shut  out  from  the  contaminations  of  the  wicked  world 
by  the  everlasting  mountains  which  approximate  its  great  prototype.  We  are 
told  that  it  was  there  where  internal  commotion  had  weakened  them,  and  the 
Spaniards  had  driven  out  the  Arabs  from  other  portions  of  Spain,  indicating  a 
speedy  downfall  of  the  Saracen  denomination,  in  Granada,  “there  arose  one 
of  those  individuals  who.  sometimes  appear  upon  earth  to  affect  the  destinies  of 
men  and  nations,  and  stamp  the  age  in  which  they  live  with  something  of  their 
ovn  greatness,  who,  upon  the  fragments  of  a  broken  State,  erected  a  new  king- 
d  >m  in  one  corner  of  Andalusia,  destined  to  enjoy  near  three  centuries  of  great- 
ness  and  glory.”  “  This  individual  was  Mohamed  Benasnar,  the  first  of  that 
distinguished  race  who  reigned  so  wisely  under  the  title  of  Emperor  of  the 
Fai  hf'ul  and  King  of  Spain,  which  was  the  commencement  of  the  golden  age 
of  that  little  kingdom.”  He  and  his  successors  gave  themselves  up  to  the  cares 
of  peace,  and  won  the  affections  of  the  people  by  erecting  hospitals  for  the  poor 
and  sick  and  blind,  establishing  schools  for  the  children,  and  colleges  for  the 
youth,  frequently  visiting  them  in  person  to  see  if  they  were  managed  kindly, 
and  if  the  attendants  did  their  duty — nor  did  they  fail  to  encourage  the  arts, 
manufacturers,  and  agriculture;  in  the  latter  employment  they  delighted  in 
spending  much  of  their  time  in  cultivating  flowers  and  in  beautifying  the 
grounds,  which  indeared  them  to  their  subjects,  and  which  was  so  necessary 
.where  theie  are  no  fixed  laws  of  succession.  Manufactures  were  in  a  more 
flourishing  state  than  in  any  cotemporary  kingdom  of  Europe.  The  manufac¬ 
turer  of  gunpowder,  glass,  porcelain,  and  paper,  was  first  discovered  by  them 
and  introduced  into  Europe.  The  manufacture  of  cotton  and  woolen  cloth 
was  carried  on  extensively  at  Granada.  “  The  silk  manufacture  was  the  most 
brilliant  branch  of  their  industry,  which  in  the  time  of  Justine  sold  for  its 
weight  in  gold,  became  a  common  article  of  dress  among  the  Granadians,  who 
carried  this  branch  of  manufacture  to  so  great  a  perfection,  that  in  the  markets 
of  the  Levant,  their  serges,  taffetas,  and  velvets,  were  prefered  to  those  of 
Syria.  The  commerce  of  that  little  kingdom  carried  on  with  Africa  and  the 
Levant,  was  said  to  be  very  great — strangers  from  twenty  different  nations  were 
seen  in  its  streets  at  the  same  time,  engaged  in  trade  and  commerce.  The  lovers 
of  letters  and  science  which  it  is  said  sprung  up  in  Arabia,  among  the  descend¬ 
ants  of  the  same  caliphs  who  destroyed  the  Alexandrian  library,  which  lead 
there  to  the  establishment  of  colleges  and  libraries,  did  not  fail  to  extend  itself 
amongst  the  Spanish  Arabs,  who  are  said  to  have  established  sixty  libraries  ill 
different  places,  some  of  them  of  an  extent  that  would  have  done  credit  to  the 
founders  of  the  present  day,  at  which  time  the  first  libraries  of  England  would 
not  have  formed  a  tithe  of  one  of  them — mention  is  made  of  301)  cotemporary 
authors  of  note  amongst  them.  In  the  12th  century,  the  very  gloomiest  period 
of  the  dark  age  of  Christendom,  nowhere  in  the  Saracen  dominions  did  learning 
flourish  more  than  in  Granada,  which  contained  a  Royal  University,  and  two 
inferior  colleges,  besides  its  numerous  primary  schools.”  The  libraries  attached 
to  the  institutions,  and  all  oihers  connected  with  the  Spanish  Moors,  fell  a  prey 
to  the  fanaticism  of  the  Christians. 

“Cardinal  Ximenese,  learned  and  illustrious  as  lie  was  said  to  have  been, 
caused  800,000  volumes,  found  at  Granada  at  the  conquest,  to  be  brought  toge- 
th  er  and  burned  in  one  bonfire.  Thus  the  friends  of  learning  had  to  deplore  the 
loss  of  works  whose  untold  treasures  are  only  known  to  be  regretted.  The  Gra¬ 
nadians  also  excelled  in  (he  knowledge  of  medicine;  so  famous  were  they,  that 
Christian  Princes  sought  the  advice  of  Moorish  physicians.  They  also  did 
much  to  advance  the  arts,  science,  and  literature  in  Christendom,  which  had  so 
long  given  place  to  the  religious  disputes  and  blind  fanaticism  which  had  cast 
such  a  gloom  over  that  period  ;  and  although  it  was  a  cardinal  principle  of  Ma- 


21 

homedanism  to  enforce  its  doctrines  at  the  price  of  blood,  they  were  a  tolerant 
*  people  :  Christians  were  permitted  to  sit  down  in  safety,  and  hold  sweet  counsel 
with  them,  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  Moorish  vine  and  fig-tree. 

This  little  kingdom  of  Granada,  equal  in  territory  only  to  a  second  or  third 
rate  State,  and  the  most  mountainous  region  in  Spain,  not  more  than  one  half  of 
which  was  capable  of  being  cultivated,  supported  a  population  of  between  three 
and  four  millions.  The  city  of  Granada,  alone,  contained  a  population  of  over 
500,000,  and  sent  forth  60,000  warriors  into  the  field,  manifesting  a  chivalrous 
bravery  rarely  equalled  and  never  surpassed.  A  large  portion  of  this  immense 
population  were  engaged  in  the  arts  and  manufactures,  furnishing  a  triumphant 
refutation  to  the  charge  that  they  beget  ignorance  and  vice,  disqualifying  man¬ 
kind  for  self-government  and  the  enjoyment  of  free  institutions — for  the  Grana¬ 
dians  were  a  comparatively  free,  intelligent,  simple,  honest,  happy  people. 

This  is  but  a  faint  outline  of  Granada  under  Alama  and  his  successors,  en¬ 
trenched  within  its  mountains,  strengthened  in  its  fastnesses  by  an  immense  po¬ 
pulation,  which  was  gradually  swollen  by  accessions  from  other  congenial  king¬ 
doms,  which  enabled  her  for  centuries  to  maintain  her  grandeur,  and  carry  on  a 
continuous  war  up  to  the  time  of  the  union  of  the  crowns  of  Castile  and  Aragon 
under  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  when  commenced  the  ten  years’  war  which  ended 
in  its  downfall.  And  although  they  have  perished  forever  from  the  earth,  and 
the  places  that  once  knew  them  shall  know  them  no  more,  the  records  of  their  rise 
and  fall  are  such  that  their  memory  can  never  die:  an  imperishable  immortality 
is  gathered  around  it,  which  will  live  so  long  as  their  flowering  valley  continues 
to  bloom,  or  the  sweet  notes  of  the  nightengale  to  enchant  their  groves,  or  the 
music  of  the  winds  to  mingle  with  the  roar  of  their  waterfalls,  and  their  silvery 
flood  to  flow  onward  to  the  ocean,  or  the  sun  upon  its  gorgeous  chariot-wheels  of 
fire  to  come  over  the  everlasting  hills,  and  until  it  shall  sink  to  fade  no  more  be¬ 
hind  the  blue  West. 

It  will  be  fortunate  and  happy  for  us  as  a  nation,  if  we  profit  by  the  lessons  of 
experience  which  the  history  of  that  remarkable  people  has  opened  out  to  us, 
clearly  demonstrating,  as  it  does,  that,  by  fostering  and  combining  agriculture  and 
manufactures,  nations  may  double  their  population,  develop  all  their  resources, 
diffuse  the  rich  fruits  of  their  industry,  and  render  their  people  intelligent,  inde¬ 
pendent,  and  affluent. 

I  remarked,  when  I  first  alluded  to  Granada,  that  it  was  nearly  connected  with 
the  events  which  led  to  the  discovery  of  this  country.  It  was  so.  It  was  at  the 
little  town  of  Santa  Fe,  in  sight  of  Granada,  and  in  the  midst  of  its  beautiful  Ye- 
ga,  where  Isabella  took  by  the  hand  the  adventuresome  and  high-minded  Geno¬ 
ese,  after  he  had  made  a  pilgrimage  around  the  world,  seeking  patrons  at  different 
Courts  who  would  send  him  forth  upon  a  voyage  of  discovery.  Columbus  re¬ 
turned  from  Portugal  after  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  enlist  its  Court  in  his  enter¬ 
prise,  and  applied  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  who  referred  his  project  to  a  learned 
commission,  who,  after  due  deliberation,  regarded  it  as  the  chimera  of  an  over¬ 
heated  and  distempered  mind.  When  he  departed,  and  was  upon  his  way  to  bid 
farewell  to  Spain  foiever,  he  was  met  by  a  learned  Friar  at  Seville, who  had  become 
deeply  interested  in  his  contemplated  enterprise,  who  had  discovered  the  budding 
of  a  mighty  genius  in  him,  and  who  persuaded  him  to  remain  until  he  could  visit 
Isabella,  and  urge  upon  her  to  adopt  the  enterprise  as  her  own.  He  did  so,  and 
she  caused  him  to  be  recalled  to  Santa  Fe.  He  reached  there  in  season  to  wit¬ 
ness  the  completion  of  the  conquest,  and  the  triumphal  entry  of  the  Sovereigns 
into  Granada,  surrounded  by  an  amount  of  pomp  and  glory  which  has  rarely,  if 
ever,  fallen  to  the  lot  of  any  other  earthly  Princes.  Ferdinand,  who  had  no 
mith  in  the  enterprise,  opened  the  negotiation  with  him.  He  claimed  the  Vice 
Royalty  of  all  the  countries  he  should  discover,  with  one-tenth  of  their  income, 


22 

and  that  he  should  be  made  Admiral  of  the  Fleets.  Ferdinand  rejected  these 
claims,  and  abruptly  broke  up  the  audience,  dismissing  Columbus,  who  left,  de¬ 
termined  not  to  abate  one  iota  of  his  claim,  manifesting  that  greatness  of  soul 
which  maintained  its  dignity  in  the  midst  of  every  misfortune.  An  officer  of  the 
household  called  Isabella’s  attention  to  his  departure.  She  recalled  him  and  ac¬ 
cepted  his  terms,  undertaking  the  expedition  upon  her  own  account  for  the 
Crown  of  Castile,  and  not  for  Arragon,  generously  offering  to  pledge  her  jewels, 
with  which  to  obtain  the  means  to  send  him  forth. 

I  wish,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  the  distinguished  artist  had  perfected  the  happy  illus¬ 
tration  of  that  great  event,  by  adding  Isabella  to  the  group  which  has  so  recen  tly 
been  placed  upon  the  steps  of  your  Capitol,  representing  her  at.  the  interesting 
moment  when  offering  to  pledge  her  jewels,  or  in  the  act  of  receiving  from  Co¬ 
lumbus  the  globe  which  he  is  with  an  air  of  triumph  in  the  attitude  of  present¬ 
ing.  They  were  kindred  spirits,  with  intellects  as  towering  as  the  Andes,  and  a 
faith  as  boundless  as  eternity — whose  memories  should  be  cherished  by  America, 
and  handed  down  to  posterity  in  nothing  less  enduring  than  monumental  marble. 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella  are  entombed  in  the  great  cathedral  at  Granada,  be¬ 
neath  a  sumptuous  mausoleum,  in  the  form  of  an  elevated  white  marble  couch, 
resting  on  the  shoulders  of  saints  carved  in  bass  relievo,  surmounted  by  figures 
representing  winged  seraphs,  with  the  effigies  of  the  sovereigns  reclining  upon 
the  top  of  it,  as  if  in  a  gentle  sleep.  There  is  so  much  that  is  chivalrous,  ro¬ 
mantic,  and  noble,  particularly  in  the  character  of  Isabella,  as  to  make  Granada 
the  Mecca  to  the  passing  stranger  and  American  pilgrim  ;  notwithstanding  which, 
when  he  ascends  the  tomb  and  stands  over  them,  reclining  as  natural  as  life  at 
his  feet,  and  thinks  of  the  conquest  and  cruel  expulsion  of  the  Moors,  will  find 
it  hard  to  forgive  them.  But  when  he  reflects  that  the  generous  and  noble 
minded  Isabella,  during  her  lifetime,  guarded  scrupulously  all  the  provisions  of 
her  treaties,  making  the  stern  cardinal,  Ziminese,  tremble  in  her  presence,  when 
rebuking  him  for  his  attempts  at  a  favored  conversion  of  the  Moors,  that  the  church 
was  the  conscience  keeper  of  Kings,  and  that  she  took  Columbus  by  the  hand 
when  all  the  world  had  deserted  him,  and  sent  him  forth  upon  his  mission  of  dis¬ 
covery,  full  of  that  expansive  faith,  which,  it  has  been  happily  said,  if  he  had 
found  no  world  in  the  midst  of  the  watery  waves,  would  have  created  one. 
It  remains  a  question,  in  the  eyes  of  some,  never  to  be  solved,  whether  that 
faith,  which  is  equal  to  the  removal  of  mountains,  did  not  invoke  from  beneath 
the  flood  this  beautiful  world  of  ours.  He  cannot  find  it  in  his  heart  to  harbor 
enmity  to  them.  Ye t  when  he  looks  down  upon  those  mighty  Caesars,  he  is  ad¬ 
monished  that  they  are  not  there;  for  the  great  captain  of  the  guard  long  since 
relieved  them  from  their  earthly  watch,  and  their  spiritual  chariots  have  gone 
over  the  everlasting  hills  ;  yet  there  all  that  remains  of  them  that  is  earthly 
sleeps,  unconscious  of  the  agonising  groans  of  a  suffering  and  prostrate  country, 
once  the  idol  of  their  hearts  ;  or  of  the  jubilee  of  a  mightier  empire  than  their 
own  that  their  generous  munificence  aided  into  life.  “  It  matters  not,  for  the  seed 
time  has  come,  and  the  harvest  has  passed” — the  abundant  harvest — not  to  their 
children  or  their  children’s  children,  but  to  a  stranger  race.”  Sleep  on,  then, 
princes,  soldiers,  sovereigns,  through  Time’s  shadowy  night,  and  may  their  dust 
remain  undisturbed  beneath  that  noble  pile  till  that  instrument  shall  sound, 
whose  awful  voice,  we  are  told,  we  all  sooner  or  later  must  hear,  at  whose  echo- 
ings  the  loftiest  temples  will  crumble  into  atoms,  and  the  earth  itself  dissolve 
away. 

In  conversation,  a  few  days  since,  with  an  honorable  Representative  from  the 
West,  (Mr.  Douglass,)  who,  I  believe,  is  an  advocate  of  a  Revenue  Tariff  anil 
Free  Trade,  lie  spoke  of  the  rapid  advances  and  glorious  destiny  of  the  West; 
cities  were  to  arise  there  that  would  outrival  New  York.  As  he  was  contem- 


plating  their  prospective  grandeur,  he  appeared  to  be  about  realizing  the  sublime 
vision  of  Byron,  when  he  said  : 

“I  stood  in  Venice,  on  the  Bridge  of  Sighs, 

A  palace  and  a  prison  on  each  hand — 

I  saw  from  out  the  wave  her  structures  rise — 

As  from  the  stroke  of  an  enchanted  wand, 

A  thousand  years  their  dusky  wings  expand 

Around  me,  and  a  dying  giory  smiles  * 

Over  the  fair  time,  when  many  a  subject  land 
Looked  to  the  winged  lions’  marble  piles, 

When  Venice  sat  in  state,  throned  upon  a  hundred  isles.” 

But  how  such  magnificent  cities  are  to  spring  into  existence  dependent 
merely  upon  internal  commerce,  is  more  than  i  can  divine.  But  let  the 
West  come  up  to  ihe  work  and  sustain  her  true  interests,  by  adequately  pro¬ 
tecting  every  branch  of  home  industry,  and  carry  out  a  judicious  system  of  in¬ 
ternal  improvements  which  are  emphatically  Whig  measures ,  and  which  en¬ 
robed  New  England  in  (he  beautiful  garments  with 'which  she  is  adorned, 
making  her  waste  places  blossom  like  a  rose — substituting  in  New  York  the 
home  of  the  happy  husbandman,  for  the  his  of  the  serpent,  the  screech  of  the 
panther,  and  the  still  more  frightful  battle  yell  of  the  red  hunter,  giving  to  them 
the  cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills — making  every  hill  top  and  valley  in  Penn¬ 
sylvania  and  New  Jersey,  vocal  with  the  merry  ciink  of  the  .mechanics  ham¬ 
mer,  rearing  up  to  them  a  hundred  towns,  and  developing  the  untold  mineral 
wealth,  of  their  iron  mountains  ;  and  which  policy  will  equally  beautify,  adorn, 
and  bless  the  South  and  West,  if  they  will  avail  themselves  of  its  protecting 
wings.  Under  its  influence  our  aims  will  be  one,  with  the  same  religion  and 
language  we  shall  be  united  in  bonds  of  a  common  brotherhood,  when  we  shall 
hear  no  more  of  disunion,  violated  faith  and  a  broken  Constitution  ;  for  the 
North  and  the  South,  the  East  and  the  West,  will  send  up  their  annual  con¬ 
tributions  of  wreaths  of  flowers  that  will  never  fail  to  adorn  our  beautiful 
temple,  watering  with  their  tears  the  tree  of  liberty  planted  by  the  pilgrims,  and 
nurtmed  by  our  revolutionary  fathers,  while  its  roots  are  penetrating  broad  and 
deep  the  earth,  sending  up  its  trunk  to  the  Heavens,  and  shooting  abroad  its 
bianches  of  flame  to  light  the  nations,  when  it  will  be  fortunate  and  happy  for 
this  and  every  other  generation  of  the  earth,  to  be  permitted  to  walk  the  course 
of  time  in  the  fullness  of  its  reflected  light. 


